MI: Walled Lake One Of Three Oakland County Communities To Adopt Marijuana Facility Ordinance

Walled Lake has joined the shortlist of Oakland County communities that have adopted local ordinances allowing state licensed medical marijuana facilities to operate.

According to The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the other county communities whose ordinances are compliant with section 205 of the Medical Marijuana Facility Licensing Act are Orion Township and Hazel Park.

The state, which is expected to begin awarding medical marijuana facility licenses in April, is leaving it up to the local cities, villages, and townships to decide if they want medical marijuana to grow or not. As of March 23, 73 Michigan communities have adopted similar ordinances.

A facility will not receive a state operating license until the municipality where the facility is located adopts an ordinance.

The city’s ordinance amended land use regulations pertaining to medical marijuana facilities and added other definitions such as processor, grower and transporter. According to the ordinance, up to three grower licenses will be allowed within the city limits, which are facilities that cultivate, dry, trim or cure marijuana.

Over the past few weeks, the department, in partnership with Michigan State Police, have shut down 210 marijuana facilities that did not meet state requirements to continue operation, which included facilities in Walled Lake and Waterford.

In September 2016, the Michigan Legislature passed and the governor signed into law three bills that created a licensing and regulatory framework for medical marijuana facilities. This framework was implemented, and licensing applications were made available on Dec. 15, 2017.

Emergency rules issued in December allow facilities to continue operating as long as they have received approval from their local clerk and who applied for a state operating license by Feb. 15.

David Harns, public information officer for the department, said if other marijuana facilities are found to be operating without local approval, and did not apply for a state operating license, will be shut down.

“At this time, letters have been delivered to all of the facilities that we believe are not in compliance with the rules governing the medical marihuana industry in Michigan,” said Harns.

As of Nov. 28, 2017, there were 31,587 medical marijuana patients in Oakland County and 4,679 primary medical marijuana caregivers.

Two addresses were included on the state’s shut down list that should not have been, including:

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